Villamor Air Base, Pasay City
March 29, 2021
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte witnessed the arrival of the Philippine Government’s first procurement of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines totaling one million doses from Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
The CoronaVac vaccines arrived at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City via a commercial flight from Beijing, China. President Duterte and several Cabinet members then inspected the crate containing the vaccines and proceeded with the ceremonial turnover of the CoronaVac vials.
This is the third shipment of CoronaVac vaccines from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. that arrived in the Philippines since February of this year. The first two batches were donated by the People’s Republic of China and formed part of the nation’s current inoculation drive for medical frontliners and healthcare workers.
In a press briefing, National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said that majority of the procured vaccines will be arriving in the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2021. With the steady supplies, the government is targeting to inoculate 500,000 Filipinos weekly in at least 4,500 vaccination sites across the country.
Moreover, the government already signed agreements with other pharmaceutical companies for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines such as AstraZeneca, Moderna and Novavax.
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